Jerry Brown Through the Years

Brown acknowledged, in a meeting with Capitol reporters on Tuesday, that he over-estimated his ability to overcome partisan gridlock in 2011. Yes, the Capitol is a far different place from the 1970's, when there was actual collegiality.

"I learned that the Republicans can't vote for a tax, cannot vote to give the people a vote on the taxes," Brown replied when asked what he had learned during the past year.

Brown spent the first half of the past year courting GOP members in a failed effort to put together votes for an election on a package of temporary taxes. Now, he says, he's done with that.

Instead, he's talking with business and labor groups and raising money, intending to bypass the legislature he once thought he could cajole, to place a tax plan on next November's ballot. That plan would raise about $6 billion, which would offset deeper spending cuts to education and social service programs.

But for that to succeed, Brown knows he needs to clear the field. In other words, convince other groups to abandon their own plans to put tax measures on the ballot.

"You want them simple," Brown said of elections, knowing that voters are likely to turn down a complex and lengthy series of options.

Brown believes voters will be more open to taxes if they see progress in other areas, such as scaling back public employee pension costs.

But it's a tricky political proposition. Labor is promising to fight big changes in the retirement system, at the same time Brown is seeking union support for his tax plan.